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Tag: Perfectly

There are huge instances of sexism that most people (we hope) will recognize, like refusing to hire someone because of their gender, or insisting it’s a woman’s duty to have babies, or refusing to see a woman doctor. These are all real things that still happen in 2018! While many are suitably horrified by such blatant gender discrimination, there’s a whole bunch of other instances of sexism we’re not as quick to call out.

Illustrator Damian Alexander wrote on Twitter that he overheard a woman tell her son he couldn’t have a Wonder Woman doll, telling him it was “for girls.” The incident reminded him of a moment in his own life when he wanted to celebrate a hero who happened to be a girl: the character Matilda from Roald Dahl’s novel of the same name. Since he’s an illustrator, Alexander drew out the whole story as well as his thoughts on how things like this can add up for kids and change how grown men view women.

Saw a lady tell her son he couldn’t have a Wonder Woman doll because “that’s for girls” and it got me thinking… (1/3) pic.twitter.com/h7SVR7FHDc

He explains that as a kid, he mostly related to girl characters in books, TV shows, and movies, but people treated that as strange because he’s a boy. He remembered one instance where his teacher tried to dissuade him from writing about Matilda as his classmates laughed at his choice of hero:

But he noticed it was fine with his teacher if the girls chose boy characters as their heroes:

It seemed like a subtle way to enforce in a boy’s mind that liking or admiring women for their strength, coolness, bravery, or whatever, was somehow bad.

And that eventually adds up in their minds.

And gets worse as they age.

Alexander wants boys to be able to see women heroes as just that: heroic and awesome, just like we encourage girls to, hopefully.

Alexander originally shared his comic on Tumblr, and it’s gone viral on twitter as well. A lot of men could remember similar incidents from when they were boys:

I was not allowed to watch powerpuff girls because of this. I still did at my friends house! And I played as Princess Peach in SSBMelee! But my little brother did not escape this mindset, and now does the same thing to his boy. This idea needs more mainstream attention. A+

I was a massive (and still am!) Sailor Moon fan in my childhood, but I never got the support for liking her from my parents (especially my dad). However, I didn‘t care and kept enjoying all the comics, movies and of course the tv show. pic.twitter.com/XLaUx2PMIU

Tom Lenk is likely a familiar face to any fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. He played nerd boy Andrew on the series, a creative individual with a habit of making up stories at every opportunity. An actor doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with their character’s direction, but Lenk is clearly as dramatic in real life as he was on TV.

His Instagram account is a deluge of creativity in the form of mocking other celebrities:

It’s doubtful that Lenk considers it mocking, actually; each photo really looks like an homage to favorite looks sported by (mostly) female stars. The handmade creations assembled from what appears to be largely household goods are inspiring, hilarious and fierce as hell:

The year: 1997. The president: Not Donald Trump.

In an effort to incentivize wealthy New Yorkers to be more philanthropic with their money, Donald Trump was given the chance to be “Principal for a Day” at a public school in the Bronx.

According to a New York Times article, Trump was asked to give a speech for a group of fifth graders at P.S. 70. “Make the speech inspiring, he was asked, something to encourage a group of children whose universe is one of New York City’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

Trump started off by asking, “First of all, who likes Nike sneakers?”

Naturally, every hand in the room shot up.

“If everybody puts their name on a piece of paper right now, I will pick 15 people and I’ll take you to the new Nike store that I just opened at Trump Tower,” Trump promised.

Apparently for Trump, this was a perfect intro for a speech on the American dream.

“Is there anyone here that doesn’t want to live in a big, beautiful mansion?” he asked. “You know what you have to do to live in a big beautiful mansion?”

“Be rich,” a voice answered.

“That’s right,” Trump said. “You have to work hard, get through school. You have to go out and get a great job, make a lot of money and you live the American dream. And you’re going to have fun doing it. It’s a lot of fun.”

Pretty strong words for a man who inherited a great deal of his wealth from his father.

The excitement in the room, and Trump’s bolstered ego, didn’t last long, however, once he started taking questions from the kids.

Cue 11-year-old Andres Rodriguez, whose father had recently passed away, and whose mother couldn’t work because of a disability.

Not falling for the B.S. Trump was espousing, Rodriguez asked, “Why did you offer us sneakers if you could give us scholarships?”

David MacEnulty, who ran the celebrated chess program at P.S. 70, told The 74 Million that Trump was stumped by the question.

To add insult to injury, Trump gave a fake $ 1 million dollar bill to a bake sale that was raising money for the chess team to go to a tournament in Tennessee.

He eventually took it back and replaced it with $ 200, but compared to other wealthy “Principal for a Day” participators, it was chump change.

According to the Times, the chairman of a telephone company had just pledged $ 25,000 to another school in the Bronx the day before, while a high-powered attorney had pledged to raise $ 100,000 to renovate the library at a school in Manhattan.

The New Yorker is one of our most respected publications, and for good reason — they occasionally foretell the future.

Case in point:

On Wednesday, they published this brutally satirical cartoon:

Then, in accordance with the prophesies, it came brutally true.

Within just a day or two, we learned that White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, widely seen as among Trump’s trusted inner circle, was let go following a blow up between him and the new White House Communications Director, seen below sizing Priebus up in the Oval Office.

Praise for the clairvoyant cartoon flooded the comments on Instagram.

Start the clock. We anxiously await The New Yorker’s inevitable next piece of illustrative clairvoyance.

A Jesus lookalike is doing God’s work and putting homophobes in their place. He arrived at an anti-LGBTQ rally this past Thursday, July 20th, with a customized sign making it clear how he felt about the entire situation. He really nailed it:

It turns out the picture was taken in during a PRIDE parade in Seoul, South Korea!

Just like a real Jesus, this lookalike was all about spreading the love. Good job, sir – continue shutting down hate with your tolerance and caring!